The New Britannia

If there 's one thing I 've come to appreciate, and which I am constantly in search of, it 's a good chippy. Whilst I was a student in Sheffield, we had heated arguments over which chippy we were loyal to. In Manchester, I 've been hard pressed to find a purveyor of fried potatoes to match those I loved in the land of hills. The New Britannia, as it is now named, is as close as I 've managed to come so far. I 've been to the Britannia a few times, on each occasion going for my usual chippy tea : fish, chips and the obligatory mushy peas. It 'll set you back around £6, which isn 't overly expensive considering that the portions are generous. I can put away a good amount of food, and this place has yet to fail in satisfying my appetite. The fish has always been well cooked not done to death and in a nice, crisp batter. Whenever I 've been in, it 's also been fried fresh to order which means it 's you, rather than your food, which will be sitting around for a bit. The chips are good, but not exceptional. That is, they 're not the kind of crappy half cooked shambles you can sometimes get but they 're not always that right kind of crispy you associate with a good chippy. The mushy peas are decent too, not too runny but not green goop either. I have a habit, acquired from my time in Sheffield, of slapping a large amount of Henderson 's Relish on things like this. (For those of you who are yet to become familiar with the famous Sheffield sauce, it looks similar to Worcester sauce but doesn 't taste the same. Even without a good coating of the Hendo 's, though, the food here is tasty and filling and they 're not shy with the salt and vinegar when you ask them for Lots; like, seriously, plastered . If I 'm eating unhealthily, I go for it big time. The only criticism I have of this place is that their opening hours are pretty short. They do a lunchtime and evening opening, but they 're not somewhere that you can call in to after a session in the pub or after making your way back from a heavy one in Manchester at 3AM. Which is a shame, because I 'll take a portion of proper chips after a heavy drinking session over fries any day of the week. If you 're around the Heatons and fancy a chippy tea, then The New Britannia will see you right. Just don 't expect any late night kebabs.

Yummy fish chips!